Computer systems are currently in wide use. They are deployed for use in a wide variety of environments. One environment is for performing on-line research.
Research is the process of obtaining information to become informed on any subject. For instance, research can be done for a school project or a work project. It can also be done to compare products in order to buy a given brand of product. Similarly, one can do research when planning a vacation or an event (such as a wedding or a birthday, etc.) or when simply following a personal interest or hobby. Research can even be used when looking for a good article or a good book to read or even when trying to find a good restaurant. Performing on-line research in these and other areas can present some challenges.
Even after the information is obtained through the research process, collection, sifting through, and organizing different sources of information can be quite time consuming. It is very unlikely that a single source will contain all the desired information. Instead, information from different sources often overlaps or forms an incomplete picture of the subject being researched. This can cause the user to have to sort through many redundant sources. In addition, the sources are often presented in a way in which there is no logical order to consume the information. Instead, content items are simply provided to the user as a string of independent items of content.
In addition, the time available for consuming the located content can be a factor as well. If the user wishes to become informed on a certain subject matter area in an hour, the content located and returned to the user might be quite different than if the user has a week, or even a year, within which to become informed on the subject matter area.
Some current systems allow a user to declare an area of interest. These systems then provide a stream of reading material that is hopefully related to the declared subject matter of interest. However, the problems discussed above with respect to research, organization, and consumption of the content are not addressed.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.